Under the Dragon Flag eBook

took a tremendous lurch, and washed away our lee-quarter
boat. It was dark, and the sea barely discernible
at a distance of thirty yards, being blown into a
thick mist. At six the hurricane continued with
unabated fury with terrific squalls; a fearful sea
struck the ship and nearly broached her to. The
sea was a mass of foam, and running very high, but
kept down to some extent by the violence of the wind.
Later we were running under bare poles. Again
the gale went down, and again we got up sail, but without
warning a tremendous squall struck us and laid us on
our beam ends. A boat was blown away, the fore-sail
split, and through the carelessness of the men at
the rudder they jibed the main-sail; it came over with
terrific force, but fortunately did no harm. Luckily
the sails could be very easily and rapidly lowered.
One only had to let go or cut the halyards and down
they came. Throughout all this the junk behaved
in a manner which astounded me. She actually
never shipped any water, that which came aboard being
tops of seas blown off. But the very qualities
which made her so steady-going militated against her
speed. She was a safe boat at all points.
One night we had to anchor off a dead lee-shore; the
crew decorated their cables with some extra red rags,
and with death grinning under our lee, went to supper
with a serenity which I should have been glad to be
able to imitate. But their confidence was as
well grounded as their anchors, which held with an
unshakable tenacity.

Though so long acquainted with the compass, the Chinese
have always been as unenterprising in sailoring as
in everything else, and seldom lose sight of the land,
if they can help it. Their fondness for hugging
the coast was very noticeable to me, and, unused to
the constant vigilance and care which a long sea voyage
demands, their system of duty was very lax and careless.
There were no proper watches; at nightfall the Ty
Kong used quietly to lower about three reefs of the
main-sail and the whole of the mizzen. All the
crew would then go to their cabin, leaving the helmsmen
alone on deck. At midnight a supper was prepared,
and the sleepers awakened. The meal ended, the
helm would be relieved and the men retired to their
berths again.

At this rate it may be supposed that we made slow
progress, and more than one incipient mutiny had to
be dealt with, some of the crew refusing to work,
and the soldiers complaining on the far from unreasonable
ground that they had not enough to eat. We spoke
several northward-bound vessels, both native and foreign,
to whom we wished to entrust the discontented warriors,
but these ships one and all gratefully but firmly
declined the compliment. By dint of necessity,
aided by the mandarin’s promises, we struggled
along, and as everything must come to an end some
time or other, we reached our port at the beginning
of January.

I have little more to add. Ki-Chang showed himself
grateful, and not only entertained me royally, but
gave me substantial pecuniary aid, a thing I was in
very pressing need of. Of course I have long since
repaid his loan.